Sunday, October 16, 2011

Sunday Salon- Lots of Book Events

I'm at the end of a week simply packed with books, bookstores and bookish events. I may be headed towards bookish burnout if I'm not careful! (I don't think that will happen though!)

On Monday my husband and I did some book shopping on the North Shore- we went up to Manchester By The Book, a used-and-rare bookshop to browse. I bought a book of old poetry and a paperback- no big deal. I visited another store, New England Mobile Book Fair, twice. Then on Thursday I went to a reading by the very charismatic Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow at the Harvard Book Store. Jones is a fellow at Harvard University and had a large audience of fans and friends in attendance. Then on Friday, I went to the New England Independent Booksellers' Association trade show, where I got to say hi to friends and find lots of new reads. I stopped by Occupy Boston on my way to the train Friday morning and snapped this picture:

Saturday was the 3rd annual Boston Book Festival. I bumped into lots of pals, including authors Steve Himmer and Holly LeCraw and the folks from Melville House who were there selling books (yes, I bought one, Faithful Ruslan, a Soviet-era prison novel). As far as events, I got to see Gregory Maguire, Alison Bechdel, Seth and Daniel Clowes, among others, and because I ponied up for reserved tickets, Jeff and I got second-row seats to Michael Ondaatje's keynote. He was amazing. But I learned something about myself. I really dislike squeezing into tiny chairs in dark rooms. I can't tell you in much detail about any event save Ondaatje's, because at everything else I went to, there may have been some napping at some point.

Ondaatje didn't have time to pose with me, but I still got to get my picture taken with an A-list celebrity, as you can see.

Today I'm switching gears completely and going to the King Arthur Renaissance Fair! No books at a Renaissance Fair!

October has sort of slipped away from me reading-wise. Today I'm working on three books: Silver Sparrow, Growing Up, by Angela Thirkell, an English country novel I'm reading for fun, and Ondaatje's The Cat's Table. Next up will be my Halloween pick, Nightmare Alley, by William Lindsay Gresham. I'm supposed to be reading Everything Happens Today, by Jesse Browner, for the Europa Challenge, but I may have to pick something else. We'll see. Then I'm just going to pick something at random off my overflowing bookshelves, which is what I recommend all of you do, too.

I love it that you have so many bookish events in your city, and think I need to come live there! I would love to be surrounded by all that excitement year round! I hope you have a wonderful time at the Renaissance fair today. Though it's not bookish, it should be a great time!

You had book stuff coming out of your ears this week! Those are good weeks, but totally exhausting. One of these days I need to send you a picture of my kids with the Cat and the Hat and the Grinch. There is a restuarant in Seussland at Universal where the characters totally molest you when you are eating. They no likey.